


Épine

by Akela_Victoire



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-01
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-11 00:37:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5607049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akela_Victoire/pseuds/Akela_Victoire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When little, sweet Rose is pushed to her limit by Chloé's 'accidental' destruction of her favourite flower in her part of a display for a gardening festival, Hawk Moth takes advantage of her sadness and turns her into Épine, a villainess with powers over plants.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is not only my first new fanfiction for the year, but it is also the first I will publish on this site and my first in this fandom at all. It will also be cross-posted on fanfiction.net under the penname Akela Victoire.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!

"Ah, springtime in Paris. Don't you just love it, Alya?" Marinette spoke cheerfully as she and her best friend lounged on the roof of her home.

It was a beautiful sunny day in Paris, France.

A relatively peaceful afternoon, with a cool breeze in the air, the sounds of pedestrians and traffic on the road around them, the smell of wonderful baked goods from the bakery on the ground floor wafting up to them in the air...

 _"Yeah,"_ Alya sneezed. _"Sure it is..."_ Alya sneezed again, this time so loudly, that she startled some birds that had perched on the wall, causing them to take to the skies.

"Don't be so down about it Alya! I'm sure you'll get over that flu soon!" Marinette rubbed her best friend's back soothingly as she handed her a pack of tissues from her purse.

"I'd better. Or else I'll go..." Alya sneezed again. " _completely crazy!_ _ACHOO!_ "

Her sneeze was actually of so much power this time that it caused her to stumble backwards, with Marinette barely catching her before she fell.

"Maybe you should go home and get some rest. Do you have anything from the pharmacy? I could pick up something for you if you like!" the French Asian girl offered.

"No thanks, Marinette. I'll be fine. Better go home and get some rest for that spring festival tomorrow. I'm covering it for the school blog since they're having a display there by the Gardening Club..." Alya used another tissue, wiping her eyes miserably.

"Well, Maman and Papa _did_ say that you could have a few cookies to take home if you wanted..." Marinette smiled at her friend.

"That... _ACHOO!_ ...sounds great. I'll take them up on that offer..." Alya went inside first, followed closely by Marinette.

* * *

 

"Ah, Springtime in Paris. Don't you just _love it,_ ladies and gentlemen?"

The MC of the festival was on stage, energetic in his antics and keeping the crowd in a good mood as they milled around the park that the festival was being held in.

They all roared their assent.

"Go around and enjoy the sights and sounds of spring. Visit the many booths staffed by the many Gardening and Nature Clubs in France that decided to celebrate with us today!" The MC exclaimed.

Marinette smiled at the MC's antics as she helped her mother with their food stall at the festival, handing a box of éclairs to a family of a mother, father, preteen and two small children, who all attacked the box eagerly as they walked away.

"Are you sure that Papa will be fine at the bakery by himself, Maman?" she asked her mother, who was wiping her hands with a paper towel.

"Your Papa will be fine, _Cher Marinette._ " Sabine Cheng tossed the paper towel into a bin and put a reassuring hand on her daughter's shoulder. "He has worked in the bakery without me before and it was still standing when I returned. Besides, he has the staff there to help him, remember?"

"True, true..." Marinette nodded.

"Hi Marinette!" Mylène came up to their stall and placed an order for some cupcakes. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. How's the Gardening Club's display going?" Marinette passed on the order to her mother.

"Oh, it's going swell! Rose is completely in her element there. Thriving, if you will. It's amazing! She's being more chatty and outgoing than I've ever seen her!" Mylène exclaimed.

Marinette blinked. "Wait... Is _Rose_ in charge?"

"No, but she's being really awesome today!" Mylène replied.

Marinette was surprised that Rose was brave enough to be outspoken when it came to anything at all, but then again, when you're doing something you love... you can take on a whole new attitude...

Just like she was as Paris' famed super heroine, Ladybug...

She shook her head to clear it.

"Juleka, Ivan, Max and a couple others from our class are there too. Alya's apparently on her way now- though I guess you'd know that, being her best friend and all..." Mylène counted them off on her fingers. "Plus Adrien promised to stop by a little later too..."

Marinette nearly dropped the box of cupcakes that she'd taken from her mother to hand to the other girl.

 _"A... A... Adrien is going to be here?"_ Marinette stammered.

"Yep! Unfortunately, Chloé is also going to be here, with her father being the mayor and all." Mylène's expression was briefly one of annoyance.

That sentence immediately snapped Marinette out of her Adrien induced stupor.

"He's probably going to make some boring speech that we can all tune out anyway." Mylène shrugged before taking the box of cupcakes from the dark haired girl.

"True. It's such a nice day, anyway. Let's not let thoughts of Chloé ruin it."

The two girls snickered.

"Bye Marinette! Stop by our display later! It's really nice. You'll like it, even if you're not into gardening!" Mylène waved to Marinette and walked away.

"That Mylène is such a nice girl." Sabine commented as her daughter walked over.

"Yeah, she's okay..." Marinette shrugged.

"Speaking of your classmates, why don't you take a break? I can hold down the fort here for a while and I'm sure you want to spend time with your friends and see the sights..." Sabine smiled.

"Really? Thanks Maman!" Marinette hugged her mother tightly before whipping off the apron and cap she'd been wearing and bolting off through the crowd to find her friends.

* * *

 

Marinette was so engrossed in the sights and sounds around her that she wasn't paying attention where she was going.

"Ow! Hey- _Marinette?_ "

Marinette had bumped into Alya.

"Hi Alya! Feeling better yet?" Marinette asked her friend once she realised who it was.

"Not one hundred percent..." Alya sniffled. "but I'm getting there. I'm headed to our school's display here. Do you want to come?"

"Was just heading there myself!"

"Let's go then, shall we?" Alya hooked her arm around Marinette's elbow and the two walked around, enjoying the sights together until they finally found what they were looking for.

The booth that their school's gardening club was rather more extravagant looking than what one would expect for a club manned by mere teenagers still in Collège.

Their display was set up within what looked a giant, green square counter with a white tent covering the back half of it, posters and pictures of various plants hanging at random places and plants of varying sizes, shapes and colours arranged all within it, on the booth itself and the larger ones on the ground.

 _"Wow..."_ Marinette looked in awe at the sight.

Ivan passed by them with a particularly large flower pot just then and Rose swung open a door at the side of the booth just then to let him in.

"Hi Marinette! Hi Alya! Come to see our school's display?" Rose waved cheerfully to them, a small shovel in her hand- coated in dirt which Max, who was now returning to the display narrowly managed to dodge when it was flung off.

"You know it!" Alya whipped out a camera and quickly started taking some photos.

"It's so exciting, being out here, showing off the gardening talents of our school!" Rose giggled. "Come on in, Marinette! I'll give you the grand tour!" the shorter girl beckoned her forward. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloé strikes again, accidentally-on-purpose destroying Rose's prized flower and Hawkmoth decides to make his move.

"Wow. This really is quite the impressive display..." Marinette looked around in awe as Rose showed her the various plants and explained briefly about some of them.

_"I know, right?"_

Marinette let out an embarrassing squeak when she heard Adrien's voice behind her.

"Oh, um... _Adrien._ Hi! Fancy seeing you here!" Marinette spoke rather quickly.

"Yeah. I needed to get out and enjoy the nice spring air for a while. Plus I knew that the Spring Festival was today so I decided to come out and see what was happening." Adrien shrugged.

"And a beautiful day it is too, huh?" Nino put his arm around Adrien's shoulder.

"Nino's right. And I don't even normally _like_ being outside in all this sunlight..." Juleka agreed as she snatched up one of the cupcakes that Mylène had brought over.

"Father has very few plants at home. And what plants they are, they're all really rare, really expensive and I'm not allowed to even breathe on them..." Adrien said.

"Expensive plants? Like _how_ expensive are we talking here?" Kim queried, raising an eyebrow.

"Expensive as in a couple hundred Euros for the cheapest one..." Adrien answered, looking sheepish.

It was more than a few of them that whistled at the given price range.

"Speaking of rare and beautiful plants, take a look at this one..." Rose pulled a flowerpot from a small table on one side and showed it to them.

It was contained within a regular ceramic plant pot but the flower looked anything but to the rest of them.

It was a fairly large flower with midnight blue petals, their tips silver and silver speckles also lightly dotting the petals.

"It's called Midnight Sky. _Ciel de Minuit_." Rose explained. " _Mon oncle_ brought it for me from _Québec_ on his last visit. Or rather, he brought the seeds. It's native to Canada and it's rare to find it growing anywhere in Europe!"

"Ooh! Pretty! I didn't even notice it there before. How could I not?" Mylène exclaimed.

"I don't know. It's always been there..." Rose shrugged while maintaining a firm grip on the flowerpot.

"Pretty cool looking, for a flower. I mean, I'm not really into flowers." Alex shrugged. "I'm just here because my friends are..."

"I understand. Not everyone likes flowers as much as I do!" Rose's cheerfulness was completely undaunted.

However, someone soon came along that would test any sane person's cheerfulness and patience.

Chloé Bourgeois, accompanied by her loyal (though no one could exactly comprehend _why_ ) sidekick, Sabrina.

"Hello, losers." Chloé greeted them.

"Oh joy. _She's_ here..." Alya groaned.

"I've decided to grace you all with my presence, since goodness knows you all need me here to make these shabby little weeds look good..." Chloé scoffed.

Alya, Juleka, Alex, Kim and Myléne all rolled their eyes.

Rose meanwhile, had gently set the _Ciel de Minuit_ back on the white-clothed table she'd taken it from, right in the centre of some other flowers that it stood tall over.

"I've got some good shots for now for the school blog." Alya said, finally putting away her camera and turning to Marinette. "Why don't some of us go grab some lunch or something and bring it here for the rest of us who have to work the booth?"

"Work is for losers..." Chloé made an exaggerated sigh, as if she were annoyed by it all which she likely was.

"Like _you_ would even know what work is like." Juleka retorted. "You've never done any. You just have Sabrina do it all! I never know how she puts up with you..."

Several people snickered, Alya and Nino included.

"Come on, Sabrina. Let's see what other weeds they've got around here..." Chloé walked over to another area of the display.

"So, Marinette. Your mom serving up any lunch goodies?" Alya put an arm around her best friend.

"Of course!" Marinette exclaimed.

" _Adrien! Nino!_ Come with us! We're going to go grab some food from Marinette's _maman!_ "

"Her parents totally make some of the best baked goods in Paris. I'm totally in!" Nino agreed enthusiastically.

"I don't mind. I'll come!" Adrien started asking some of his classmates for their order and as he took notes and money, Marinette turned to talk to Alya.

" _You..._ why?" Marinette narrowed her eyes at her best friend.

" _Come on,_ Marinette! You need to loosen up around the guy! He's good looking, but he isn't a god or something! Besides, you've been getting better at not turning into a blubbering, stammering mess around him lately!" Alya exclaimed

 _"But not completely!"_ Marinette stammered.

"We're ready to go!" Nino waved the girls over and they went off.

* * *

As they left her mother's food stall with several bags of food containers in tow, Alya, Marinette, Nino and Adrien all managed to have an amicable conversation about the festival they were at without her turning into a _'blubbering, stammering mess'_ as Alya had called it.

Marinette chalked it up to mediating forces (Alya and Nino) being present.

"I don't get to enjoy a lot of free time like this, so I savour every moment. Father usually has some modelling jobs booking up all my weekends, but for some reason, this weekend was all free." Adrien shrugged. "I'm certainly not complaining..."

"It must be hard, being a famous model. Having to keep up your appearance, putting up with some of the temperamental people you have to work with in the fashion industry, making sure you don't embarrass yourself and have your name and pictures in the media in a way you _don't_ want..." Marinette sympathised.

 _"You have no idea..."_ Adrien muttered darkly.

Alya merely chuckled to herself as she noticed her best friend and her best friend's crush interacting in a more relaxed way.

The day was going nicely.

When they returned to their school's Gardening Club's stall, it was just in time to see Chloé turn away from Rose and... _'accidentally'_ bump into the table displaying the _Ciel de Minuit,_ causing it to topple over and all the plants on top of it crashed into the ground, their flowerpots shattering upon impact, scattering flowerpot shards, dirt and bits of flower across the floor of the display.

The day was _not_ going nicely.

Rose let out a horrified whimper as a single petal from the _Ciel de Minuit_ fluttered down in front of her, landing at her feet.

 _"Great."_ Alya nearly growled. "Chloé's done it _again._ "

"Why am I not surprised that she'd try to ruin _something_ on a nice day like today?" Nino face-palmed and completed the action by sliding his hand down his face afterwards.

 _"No, no, no..."_ Rose panicked and ran for a small silver shovel that had been tucked inside a pink duffel bag hidden beneath another table with a long, light blue tablecloth.

The petite girl looked completely and utterly heartbroken as she used her little silver shovel in a futile effort to gather up the shattered pieces of flowerpot, dirt and the flower that had been contained within.

" _No, no, no..._ I can fix it... _I can totally fix it!_ " Rose's voice raised in pitch, threatening to crack as she began to show signs of becoming hysterical.

"No you can't! Look at it! All it is now is bits of petals, leaves and dirt!" Chloé exclaimed mockingly. _"Oops!"_

Chloé didn't sound sorry in the slightest.

People started to glare venomously at her.

 _"You're terrible."_ Juleka growled.

"What's all the fuss about?" Chloé scoffed, noticing the glares some people were giving her. "It's just some stupid flower!"

 _"A really rare flower that can't be found naturally anywhere in Europe!"_ Rose exclaimed through her tears.

Chloé merely scoffed and waved her off. "It's no big deal. What are you fussing about? _It's just. a. flower!_ "

Rose fought back a sob, but it was no use.

Abandoning her effort to fix her precious flower, she ran off crying, her shovel clutched firmly in her hand.

Everyone except Sabrina looked at Chloé in complete and utter disgust and even Sabrina herself looked at her with some apprehension.

"You're _horrible!_ " Kim exclaimed.

"Yeah! Rose is like the sweetest girl ever! What has she ever done to you?!" Mylène exclaimed.

Alya shook her head in disgust. "Nothing's going to get through the thick skull of that she-demon..."

Most of the other students there and even some bystanders who had seen what had happened made vehement exclamations of disgust.

"Chloé is like a human weed. Throttling the life out of not only the plants but people too..." Marinette snarked.

Everyone laughed at Chloé and even Sabrina let loose a chuckle that was quickly quelled by the blonde girl's venomous glare.

Chloé looked at Adrien, obviously expecting him to defend her, but he merely ignored her.

She walked off in a huff.

"I'll go try to check on Rose..." Marinette handed off the food she'd been carrying to Myléne and Ivan and began to move off, but Juleka put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

"I'll come too. She _is_ my best friend, after all..." Juleka insisted.

Marinette nodded and the two ran off.

* * *

In Hawkmoth's lair, he chuckled to himself as the circular window opened, letting light into the otherwise dark room, having spotted yet another potential Akuma victim.

The pure white butterflies fluttered around his feet as if in agitation as he spoke.

_"That poor girl. Her love of plants and gardening mocked by those who do not understand..."_

Holding out his dark-gloved hand, a white butterfly landed on it and as he clasped his hands over it he filled it with evil energy that turned it from white to a purplish black.

_"Fly away, my little Akuma and let the seed of evil grow and thrive!"_

* * *

 Rose ran to a more deserted area of the park and sat on a bench, crying her heart out as she clutched the little shovel close.

"I brought my favourite plant from home to make our school display better. A _really rare_ plant and she just broke it on purpose _and didn't care!_ " she exclaimed through her sobs.

She didn't notice as the Akuma landed on her small shovel and was absorbed into it.

Her sobs stopped abruptly as she sat up straighter, under her eyes becoming slightly reddish and her face covered by the outline of a purple butterfly.

 _"My little Épine, I am Hawkmoth."_ he spoke with deceptively dulcet tones. _"you are indeed a talented gardener who truly cares for her plants. Those who do not should be cut away so others can thrive. I can give you the power to do that, if you just do me one small favour..."_

 _"Yes..."_ Rose's tone became hard. _"weeds need to be **destroyed...** "_

A most disconcerting expression of pure malice appeared on her face as the black and purple mass of dark energy spread from the hand holding the shovel to engulf Rose's body.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose disappears and Épine appears, the newest Akuma victim determined to end Chloé.

_"Chloé's really gone too far this time..."_ Juleka muttered as she and Marinette searched for the girl. "I hope Rose is okay..."

"When does Chloé ever _not_ go too far?" Marinette stopped for a moment, as did Juleka. "How long have we been searching for Rose? Is it possible that she went home?"

"Probably. I've tried calling her to check though, and she's not answering!" Juleka fretted.

"Why don't we split up? We could cover more ground that way..." Marinette suggested.

"Yeah..." Juleka smiled sadly. "...that sounds like a good idea..."

They went their separate ways.

Soon, Marinette found herself in a slightly secluded area of the park, feeding Tikki a packet of cookies that she'd stashed in her pocket.

"It doesn't seem to be much use searching anymore, Tikki. Juleka and I can't seem to find Rose anywhere..." Marinette sighed sadly.

"Maybe she _did_ go home, like you suggested to Juleka earlier..." Tikki spoke through mouthfuls of cookie.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Marinette waited until Tikki had finished. "I think I'll go see if Maman needs any more help. Let me just text Juleka first..."

She pulled out her phone and fired off a quick text, receiving a prompt response in return.

"Juleka couldn't find her..." Marinette read from the screen.

She sighed and stood up, allowing Tikki to fly back into her bag.

"Let's go to Maman..."

* * *

 

"Hey, Maman. Do you need me back to help you again?" Marinette asked as soon as she returned to her mother's stall.

"Finished visiting your school's Gardening Club stall?" Sabine queried.

"Yeah. A friend of mine had a rare flower of hers destroyed on purpose by Chloé Bourgeois and she (the friend, that is) ran off, upset. Her best friend and I tried to find her, but we couldn't." Marinette's shoulders sagged. "It kind of killed the mood over there..."

Sabine frowned. "That _awful_ girl. I still remember the time she tried to get you expelled over that bracelet of yours. Accused you of being a thief. Just the _nerve_ of that girl!"

"How could I ever forget that?" Marinette scowled at the memory, all of which had later led to the Rogercop incident.

"Anyway," Sabine perked up. "Most of the rush is over, so hopefully it should be smooth sailing this afternoon!"

_"I'm glad to be out here on this wonderful Saturday afternoon, enjoying a lovely Parisian spring..."_ Mayor Bourgeois' voice drifted down from the stage.

They looked up to see him standing at the podium in the centre of the stage, his daughter standing beside him, looking as haughty as she always did.

That all changed in just a few seconds.

Exploding pollen clouds rained down on the stage, knocking all of those present on said stage off their feet and making them cough violently.

When the pollen clouds cleared up slightly, everyone looked up to the sky to see a girl hovering there, propped up in the air by her hair.

But it was no ordinary hair.

It was more like long, green vines covered with sharp thorns rather than actual hair with a black gardener hat with a green ribbon tied in a bow on the side as the hat band perched atop said thorn-vine hair.

Her skin was light green, her makeup (mascara, eye shadow and lipstick) was black and yellow eyes glared down at Chloé.

She was dressed in a long-sleeved dark green shirt (the sleeves of which were tucked into black gardening gloves), a pair of black waist-high mini overalls with a dark green sash tied through the belt straps that tied a small, black shovel to her waist, dark green leggings with a black stencilled pattern of vines covering them and black gardening boots.

_"You..."_ the hovering person pointed at Chloé, glaring as some of her thorn-vine hair floated eerily behind her. _"...you need to be **pruned...** "_

She drew back her hand and as she thrust it forward, several of her thorn-vine hair strands lashed out at Chloé at the same time several pollen clouds appeared around her, sending the mean girl running for dear life, screaming at the top of her lungs.

As many other people present in the park started doing.

"Maman! We need to get out of here before we end up being planted ourselves!" Marinette exclaimed.

"Come on! _Come on!_ " Sabine tried leading her daughter off, but Marinette used the crowd to separate from her mother.

Running to a secluded area of the park, Marinette opened up her purse and Tikki instantly flew out.

"Why do I have the feeling that I know who's under that Akuma's control this time?" the French-Asian girl sighed.

"Whoever it is, you've gotta take care of them before she uproots the entire park!" Tikki exclaimed.

Marinette nodded.

_"Tikki, **transforme-moi!** "_

When she finished transforming, Ladybug took to the treetops.

* * *

 

 Meanwhile, Adrien had still been at the Gardening Club's stall when the Akuma made an appearance.

"Sometimes, I wonder why I still put with Chloé after all these years..." he muttered to Nino.

"Everyone else wonders that too..." Nino said. "Dude! You're a pretty chill dude! How can you even be friends with such a witch?!"

Adrien merely shrugged.

They could see the stage where the mayor was giving his speech and though it (and him) were a fair distance away, they could still hear him clearly.

"Couldn't find her," Juleka announced as she returned to the stall. "Marinette and I looked everywhere we could. We even separated to cover even more ground on our own, but Marinette texted me to let me now that she hasn't found Rose either..." the Goth girl sunk into a nearby chair. _"This sucks. Chloé sucks."_ she muttered.

"Uh-huh..." Nearly everyone present murmured in agreement as they glanced towards the stage where Chloé stood haughtily next to her father/the mayor.

At least, until the Akuma-fied person showed up and began attacking.

As the exploding pollen drifted their way, Alya bean having another sneezing fit and even as she was trying to run for cover, she was _still_ trying to film the attack at the same time.

Adrien ran away and ducked behind a particularly large tree.

Plagg flew out of the backpack Adrien carried that day, gobbling down the last of a chunk of Camembert.

"Looks like you've got a real vicious weed out there to take care of..." the Kwami noted.

Adrien nodded. "Let's go do some gardening of our own. _Plagg, **transforme-moi!**_ "

Chat Noir stretched briefly, then took off.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fight between Épine and our heroes really begins.

Ladybug landed on the now abandoned stage mere seconds before Chat Noir arrived on the scene.  
"Why hello there, My Lady. Lovely afternoon for an Akuma fight, isn't it?" He did a little bow to her.  
"No. I'd rather be spending my spring afternoon relaxing with some friends in this park, maybe enjoying a cookie or two." Ladybug retorted.  
"I hear you. So where did our last Akuma head to?" Chat Noir made a show of looking around, surveying the ongoing chaos in the park, his hands shading his eyes.  
A pollen explosion occurred from somewhere far behind him.   
"I'd say she headed over there..." Ladybug gestured to the rapidly rising pollen cloud.  
"Let's get going then!" Chat Noir ran off and Ladybug was close behind.

* * *

 

"Get back here!" Épine roared as she continued to chase Chloé furiously, still using her vine hair as legs.  
"Get away from me, you freak!" Chloé screamed.   
"I don't think so!"  
With a few quick strides, Épine stepped over Chloé and landed gracefully on her feet in front of the terrified mean girl, retracting her vine hair to shoulder length.  
Chloé backed away, but before she could get too far, the ground beneath her shook throwing her off her feet, although Épine remained steady on hers.  
The plant themed villainess raised her hand and two trees behind Chloé suddenly uprooted themselves, yellow eyes veined with red formed near where the branches started to sprout from the tree, a jagged mouth formed a few inches below the eyes and tree branch arms sprouted from the sides of the trees, with hands sprouting from those arms.  
The pair of trees reached for a screaming Chloé, hoisting her up roughly and standing next to one another, they used their hands to form a spherical sort of cage around her and hoisted it up far above the ground.  
"You're not going anywhere unless I want you to!" Épine snarled. "Maybe I should shatter you into pieces like you did to my precious flower!"  
She demonstrated her point by the trees shaking their branch cage arms violently, leaving Chloé in a daze.  
Épine smirked.  
"Growing a bit too big for your flowerpot there, aren't you?"  
Épine whipped around to see Ladybug and Chat Noir standing there, the former being the one who had spoken.  
"Time to do some weeding. And guess what?" Chat Noir extended his staff. "You're the weed!"  
"I am not a weed!" Épine screeched. "My name is Épine!"  
Her vine hair lashed out at the two Miraculous holders, narrowly missing them as they back flipped out of the way.  
"Any ideas on how to get rid of her?!" Ladybug called out as she did several twists and turns to avoid the lashing, thorny vines.  
"Find the Akuma object, smash it and then you purify it?" Chat Noir suggested unhelpfully.  
"That doesn't exactly help us out here right now, Chat!" Ladybug twirled her yoyo in front of her, deflecting several vines that lunged for her at once.  
"Sorry I can't be a bit more help right now! These plants are being a bit unruly over here!" Chat Noir called out as he deflected several vines that were attacking him.

* * *

 

Épine felt euphoric on the inside.  
These powers were truly amazing! Connecting with the plants she loved and cared for so much, the adrenaline rush they gave her...  
All that she had to do now was get Ladybug and Chat Noir out of the way, finally get around to punishing Chloé...  
She retracted her vine hair and did a back flip to avoid Ladybug's yoyo, landing in the lower branches of a tree- that she hadn't animated.  
The purple butterfly outline appeared around her face as Hawkmoth communicated with her once again.  
"Épine, remember your task for me! Bring me Ladybug's and Chat Noir's Miraculous! Her earrings! His ring!" Hawkmoth snapped.  
"I've not forgotten you, Hawkmoth. I'm on it. A watched seed never grows, after all..." Épine declared as the purple butterfly outline disappeared.  
She leaped out of the tree and landed perfectly on her feet, dodging a blow from Chat Noir's staff simply by stepping slightly to her left.  
"I have been using the little seedlings for long enough, Ladybug and Chat Noir!" she declared. "It's time to bring out the real, full grown flora!"   
She cackled as she raised her hands in the air and her thorn hair grew longer and whipped around behind her, though it didn't grow long enough to hoist her into the air.

* * *

 

"What in the world is she doing...?" Chat Noir held his extended baton out.  
"I don't know, but I'm not planning on waiting around to find out!" Ladybug moved to attack with her yo-yo, but the ground suddenly shook, making her and Chat Noir unsteady on their feet.  
Their eyes widened when all of the nearby trees animated, much in the manner that the ones imprisoning Chloé had, looming over them, arms outstretched threateningly.  
Épine stood amongst them all, smirking at the two Miraculous holders.  
 _"Get them."_   
A smirk graced Épine's features as she issued the command and she allowed another tree to carry her, seated in its branches.  
"Well, now we know what she was up to..." Chat Noir blinked, stunned.  
The trees lunged for them and they dodged them, narrowly missing the pair, their wooden hands scraping along the ground instead, as if they were raking them.  
Meanwhile, Chloé, who had recovered from her dazed state, was watching the battle from within her tree cage.  
"Hurry up and beat her so I can get out of here, Ladybug and Chat Noir!" she called out. "It's really uncomfortable up here and my hair is a mess!"  
Ladybug and Chat Noir ignored her in favour of not being impaled by the rather terrifying tree branch hands.  
They ended up being chased out of the park where a few terrified festival goers still were.  
Upon seeing the terrifying trees, they panicked and were terrified even more than before the trees put in an appearance.  
The fight spilled out onto the streets of Paris.  
The people outside the park started running away from the scene, abandoning all their vehicles, parents/babysitters picking up their children and running off with them and a few dog walkers doing the same for their pets, even if the dogs were particularly large.  
"We need to end this before someone gets hurt!" Ladybug exclaimed.   
"There's no need to tell me that twice, My Lady." Chat Noir nodded. "We need to get rid of these overgrown weeds before someone gets purr-uned!"  
Ladybug let out an exasperated sigh and face-palmed.  
"She sent her leafy minions out here to do her bidding, but we have to draw her out. Make her fight us without them!" Chat Noir exclaimed.  
"You're right." Ladybug nodded.  
"Also, I was passing by the Collège Françoise Dupont's's display in the park when I saw Chloé break this girl's flower. Apparently, it was really rare." Chat Noir shrugged, then batted away a tree limb with his baton, doing a back flip and batting one away that threatened Ladybug from behind. "Chloé didn't care at all. I think she even did it on purpose. Anyway, the girl's name was Rose. It's likely her under all that green."  
"Oh yeah! I saw that!" Ladybug mused. "Don't get any ideas, Chat!" she exclaimed hastily after seeing the pensive look on her partner's face. "I was just passing through too! I saw her run off with a shovel in her hand. That's probably where the Akuma is! In the shovel tied to her waist!"   
Ladybug let out a startled scream as she was batted into a parked car by one of the monster trees, setting off its alarms.  
"Ladybug!" Chat Noir exclaimed in alarm, running over to her. "Are you alright?"  
"I'm fine, petit minou." Ladybug groaned, rubbing the back of her head as she took Chat Noir's offered hand to help her get to her feet.  
Then she noticed that she and Chat Noir were cornered by a cluster... forest of the monster trees.  
"Why don't you two just give up now before I have to turn you into plant food for my lovelies?" Épine came onto the scene, still seated in the tree from earlier.  
She jumped out of the tree, but before her feet could even touch the ground, her thorn vine hair extended itself, propping her up above the trees.  
"If you just hand over your Miraculous, we can make this less painful for you." Épine smirked. "You don't have to feel the wrath of my thorns, my exploding pollen or my leafy friends!"  
Ladybug and Chat Noir looked at one another, then at the trees.   
"Any ideas Chat?" Ladybug asked him.  
Chat Noir nodded. "I'm always full of purrfect ideas, my lady. How about I take care of the giant, walking weeds and you move in on the Queen Weed for a little trim?"  
"You'll be fine doing that on your own, chaton?" Ladybug looked concerned.  
"I'm always fine, my lady." Chat Noir waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "In more ways than one..." he waggled ears as well.  
Ladybug looked as if she would have liked nothing more than to slap him in that moment, as judged by the way she twitched and her hands fidgeted.  
"Hey! Evil trees! I bet you can't catch this devilishly handsome kitty cat over here!" Chat flexed his baton and used it as a pole vault over the top of the trees, that promptly started chasing him.  
Ladybug and Épine circled one another, the tension in the air palpable.   
The latter had lowered herself to the ground and her footsteps made nary a sound as she stared down the spotted heroine as they circled.   
"Ready to give up your Miraculous yet, Ladybug?" she spat the super heroine's name with as much venom as she could muster.   
Ladybug twirled her yo-yo behind her.  
"You wish, Épine..."  
And with that, the one-on-one fight between heroine and villainess began.

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fight between Épine and our favourite superheroes heats up and finally comes to its conclusion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter of my first Miraculous Ladybug fanfiction! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I liked writing it!

Épine lunged for the spotted heroine and she dodged, throwing out a leg that the Akumatised villainess managed to somersault over smoothly instead of tripping up.

"I _won't_ be defeated that easily..." Épine growled.

"We'll see..." Ladybug threw a punch, but Épine caught it in her gloved hand and flipped Ladybug over into the air, though the spotted heroine managed to hold onto her and flip her over as well, slamming her into the ground.

Chat Noir, meanwhile, was dodging the animated trees, batting away their mangled limbs with his staff.

"Hey, I know I'm a gorgeous kitty and all, but _paws. off!_ " he batted at one particular tree so forcefully that it skidded several feet away from him and crashed into a car, digging up the street with its root feet as it went, sending gravel flying about in several directions.

"Who else wants a piece of the Chat?" Chat Noir beckoned them forward with one hand, holding his staff behind him with the other.

 _"Hyah! Hah! Whoa! Missed me!"_ the feline-themed hero dodged, turned, jumped and twisted to avoid the trees.

He even jumped on top of one that was charging him and managed to back-flip off of it just in time to avoid three others crashing into it, in their effort to catch him.

"You're _barking_ up the wrong tree if you think you'll beat me, you walking _saps!_ " Chat leapt on of a car and dodged the reach of another tree. "I'm going to go out on a _limb_ here and say that the day that happens is the day I've gone to _seed!_ " he exclaimed.

Even with her fighting against Épine, Ladybug still managed to hear Chat Noir's horrid puns and roll her eyes at them.

After dodging a blow from the spotted heroine, Épine had Ladybug's fists in her grasp and was pushing her backwards when the butterfly outline framed the villainess' features once again as Hawkmoth communicated with her.

_"You are **close,** Épine! Use your powers to your advantage! If you don't bring me the Miraculous, you can say goodbye to all your flora friends!"_

"It's been fun, but I grow tired of this, _Ladybug..._ " Épine growled.

"Why don't you just make like a tree and _leaf_ then?" Ladybug taunted.

The green-skinned villainess narrowed her yellow eyes as they glinted with a look that suddenly made Ladybug feel very, _very_ worried.

"Oh _no,_ Ladybug. _I'm_ not leaving." Épine drew back one hand and blasted Ladybug full on in the face with some off her exploding pollen, sending her careening through the air. "And _you're_ not leaving either!"

"AUGH! My eyes! _My eyes!_ " Ladybug gagged and coughed as the pollen took effect on her as she plummeted back to the ground, unable to react quickly enough to try fetching her yo-yo to use it in preventing her from becoming a spotted pancake on the Parisian street.

She let out a scream as a particularly large tree grew out its branch limbs and snatched out of mid-air, holding her arms tightly to her body so that the spotted heroine could barely move.

Ladybug struggled and kicked, but she couldn't free herself from the tree branches' grasp on her arms and the pollen still had an effect on her, making her cough and wheeze, plus irritating her eyes to the point of tears leaking from them.

"No... no... Chat! _Chat!_ _CHAAAT!_ " Ladybug screamed out as Épine moved closer, the spotted heroine's eyes (reddened slightly due to the pollen) widening with each step the villainess took towards her. _"A little help over here!"_

 _"Very good, Épine! Take the earrings now!"_ Hawkmoth urged Épine, the purple butterfly outline appearing on both of their faces once again as he communicated with her.

Épine smirked as she began to walk towards the trapped heroine.

_"CHAAAT!"_

Chat Noir batted aside the limbs of another tree to see _his_ lady in the grasps of the tree, coughing and sputtering; unable to move and with the villain of the day getting closer and closer to her.

 _"Ladybug!"_ he cried out, his own eyes widening. _"I'm coming, My Lady!"_

He fought a path through some of the trees, but still more surrounded him.

 _"Get. Out. Of. My. WAY!"_ Chat Noir roared.

"Okay, that's **_it!_** " Chat clenched his fist.

_"CATACLYSYM!"_

As Chat Noir charged up his attack, he lunged for the roots of the trees surrounding him, their roots rotting away and causing them to fall over to the ground with several large thuds.

Doing a back flip over the last of the trees obstructing him as they tumbled to the ground- causing several large cracks to appear in it where they fell- he ran for the tree holding _his_ Lady and skidded across the ground as his attack dragged across the roots of the malevolent tree.

The tree relinquished its hold on Ladybug with a screech and toppled to the ground, just as Épine's fingers barely touched the heroine's earrings.

Ladybug dropped and rolled away from the falling tree, wiping her eyes vigorously as soon as she got behind a car.

"I never knew pollen could hurt the eyes so badly. And that tree's grip on my arm... I never knew that trees could be so strong... _Ouch..._ " Ladybug whined, hissing when she touched her arm.

"You..." Épine growled at Chat Noir, upon seeing the destruction that the feline hero had wreaked on the trees around them. _"...you hurt my friends!"_ she roared.

"You need better friends, Épine!" Chat Noir swung his staff, batting away about a dozen thorny vines that lunged for him simultaneously.

Épine let out another roar of rage as her hair did its very best at impaling the feline superhero as well as firing off pollen clouds after him.

"You'll pay for hurting my friends!" she screamed. "Plants are so much better than people! _They'll never hurt you!_ "

 _"I beg to differ..."_ Chat Noir thought as he ran.

Meanwhile, behind the car she'd rolled behind, Ladybug finally began to recover from the effects of the pollen and rubbed her arms where the tree had grasped her rather tightly.

She hissed in pain.

 _"That's going to leave a bit of bruising..."_ she grumbled.

Peeking out from behind the car, she saw Chat Noir being hunted down by an absolutely furious Épine.

 _"Get back here, kitty cat!"_ Épine roared. " _Nobody_ gets away with hurting my plants! _Not even you!_ "

Ladybug narrowed her eyes.

Standing up straight and stretching, she declared: "Time to get back in the game! Can't let the kitty have _all_ the fun, can I?"

_"LUCKY CHARM!"_

Ladybug's special superpower produced a spray bottle.

As the ladybug-patterned bottle landed in her outstretched right hand, she raised an eyebrow at it.

"A spray bottle? What am I supposed to-?" Ladybug sprayed it and sniffed the air around her, immediately making an expression of disgust when she caught the scent.

 _"Weed killer."_ Ladybug looked between the bottle and Épine's thrashing vine hair.

"Well, this one's obvious, I think..." Ladybug smirked.

She ran down the street, jumping over some fallen trees and vaulting over cars to catch up with Épine, who was still doing her best to catch Chat Noir.

Ladybug used her yo-yo and swung around a lamppost and landed neatly in front of the plant themed villainess, spraying as soon as she landed, not giving Épine any time to react.

 _"AAH!"_ Épine screamed as the spray stung her eyes and her hair seemed to react as if it were in pain, writhing about crazily. _"That stuff **burns!** " _she hissed.

"Thanks for the save earlier, Chat." Ladybug pinged his bell and smiled at Chat Noir when he turned back to join her. "You really saved this bug from being squashed."

"It was my pleasure, My Lady." Chat Noir grinned at her.

Épine's hair went limp as she sunk to her knees. _"No... no... NO!"_

"I'll take that, _thank you..._ " Chat Noir extended his staff and ripped the shovel tied to Épine's waist right off, tossing it to his partner/team mate.

"A little gift, to help with your gardening problems, My Lady..." he grinned.

Ladybug rolled her eyes as she caught the shovel.

"I've actually had enough gardening for one day, Chat..." she declared.

She took the shovel in both hands and snapped it in two.

The Akuma fluttered out from between the two pieces of shovel, but didn't get far.

"No more evildoing for you, little Akuma!" Ladybug declared, swinging her yo-yo about at her feet, before aiming it at the Akuma and catching it.

_"Time to de-evilize!"_

_"Gotcha."_

Ladybug tapped the yo-yo lightly, causing it to open up and release a newly cleansed white butterfly.

 _"Bye-bye, little butterfly."_ Ladybug waved as it flew off. _"MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!"_

She threw the spray bottle into the air where it exploded into a mass of glowing ladybugs.

The ladybugs covered the entire street, fixing all the damaging and causing some of the uprooted trees to be put back in their rightful places along it, the other trees that came from the park returned to their rightful places, all the damage in the park (broken stalls, broken flowerpots, uprooted plants and trees, etc.) was fixed and the trees still imprisoning Chloé dissipated and reformed in their proper spots, causing her to fall to the ground with a thud and cry out in pain and indignation.

 _"Hey!"_ she cried out.

Finally, the black and purple mass of dark energy appeared around Épine and dissipated as it moved up from her feet to the top of her head, revealing a newly freed Rose, who rubbed her head, groaning.

 _"Where am I? What happened to me? How did I get here?"_ Rose looked around, thoroughly confused.

Ladybug and Chat Noir fist-bumped.

 _"Pound it!"_ they chorused.

* * *

_"No!"_ Hawkmoth exclaimed angrily as the circular window in his lair began to close, cutting off the light from outside and plunging the room into nearly complete total darkness once again. "I was _so close_ to victory!"

He clenched his fist.

_"Ladybug and Chat Noir, you will be weeded out sooner or later, I swear it!"_

* * *

 

The park began to refill with patrons of the Spring Festival once word got out that Ladybug and Chat Noir had once again dispatched the latest Akuma to wreak havoc in Paris.

Slowly, but surely, the students of Collège Françoise Dupont gathered in or near their display, talking about various things the latest Akuma attack included.

Marinette (after finding her mother and reassuring her that she was in fact, alive and in good shape) had also returned to the booth.

"Look at this! I've almost finished the blog post on the latest Akuma attack! Épine, huh?" Alya practically dragged Marinette over into a corner to show her what was on her phone.

Alya scrolled through various pictures and video clips. "Awesome, huh? I got some clips from when the attack started out here in the park and my fans in the other parts that the fight took place!" she squealed.

"Yeah..." Marinette rubbed her arm where the tree had grabbed her- it was still feeling sore- and winced.

"Hey. Are you okay, Marinette?" Alya asked in concern, noticing her friend's reaction to touching her arm.

"I'll be fine. I, uh... _fell._ Yeah, that it... I fell when I was running away from the Akuma attack. I'll be fine though. Don't worry!" Marinette waved it off- or at least tried to, as her arm decided it didn't like the movement and sent a sharp jolt of pain up her arm.

Alya looked at her disbelievingly. "Are _you_ sure you're okay?"

"I'll be fine, Alya. Nothing major. It'll probably be gone by tomorrow..." Marinette insisted,, while quietly slipping a cookie from a nearby table into her purse for her Kwami.

"If you say so..." Alya still looked sceptical.

Adrien meanwhile, was seated in a secluded area of the park, waiting for Plagg to finish a chunk of Camembert he'd just fed him.

"I come out to the park today to relax and enjoy the festival and an Akuma attack happens..." Adrien sighed.

"Bad luck, huh?" Plagg scoffed the last of the cheese, indifferent to what Adrien was saying.

"Anyway, you're done. Let's get back to the booth..." Adrien walked back in time to see Rose return to the booth.

Marinette and Alya, who were going through the pictures that the latter had on her phone, looked up as soon as she entered.

The chatter in the booth immediately went silent as she made her way over to the table where her Ciel de Minuit stood tall, not looking as if a certain blonde bully had ever been near it.

"My flower! It's been fixed!" She took the flowerpot in her hands, squealing happily.

Then she looked around and noticed that her classmates were quieter than usual.

"Um... About me being an Akuma and all..." she spoke sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head nervously with one hand, while maintaining a firm grip on the flowerpot with the other. "Sorry about that..."

"Oh come on, Rose. Nobody blames you!" Marinette exclaimed. "In fact, we all pretty much blame Chloé..."

"Yeah!" Kim exclaimed. "How many people is it that she's gotten Akumatised now?"

"Well, besides you, there was me, Nathanaël, Mylène, Sabrina, Sabrina's dad, herself, Marinette's great uncle..." Alya counted them off on her fingers, whistling when she saw the number. " _Damn,_ that's a lot of people..."

"Like Marinette said, nobody blames you, Rose..." Adrien spoke up, smiling at the petite girl. "Now why don't we try enjoying the rest of the day, huh?"

 _"Yeah!"_ Everyone cheered in unison.

Adrien and Nino had drifted over to Marinette and Alya and they started having a lively conversation about the display without Marinette tripping over herself figuratively or literally.

With that, the teenagers got back to their activities, happily enjoying the afternoon.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it's over and done. I will be writing more for Miraculous Ladybug in the future- both episode type fics and other kinds too, so keep an eye out for that!
> 
> In about two weeks or so, I will be releasing another episode type story. Stay tuned for Geriatrico...
> 
> Thanks for sticking around for the ride!


End file.
